One of the tips that I repeatedly see in the language learning community is to make a plan. Set specific goals, and figure out how you’re going to get there. I don’t really do that. I do try to set a reachable, defined goal (10 minutes of study a day!), but how I get there is often up in the air. I dabble, flitting from one resource here, another there, getting distracted by watching too many episodes of Wallander or The King of Dramas or whatever other target language TV show I’m into.
And you know what? Everyone else is right. My approach has been like getting drunk before a marathon. It’s fun to start out with, but I don’t make much progress and I end up stumbling around while everyone else passes me. I’m spending too much of my study time figuring out what I’m going to do that day. Do I listen to another episode of Chinesepod? Do I watch a YoYo Chinese video on Youtube? Do I work through another chapter of Colloquial Chinese? Or maybe do a lesson on the ChineseSkill app? TOO MANY CHOICES. I have 12 podcasts, 3 apps, 7 Youtube channels, 6 blogs, and 10 books that I want to use to study, plus Pimsleur, Memrise, and TV dramas (AND my weekly iTalki lesson). There are so many quality resources for Mandarin that I’m strangled by the paradox of choice. The struggle is real, guys. So usually I just give up and watch an episode of Fabulous Boys and study some flashcards and call it a day (I AM SO OBSESSED WITH THIS DRAMA RIGHT NOW. I gave up on Absolute Boyfriend because the heroine was just far too annoying and started this instead and it is the best decision I have ever made).
My goal for April is to par down to my very favorite resources (which is unnecessarily hard for me because I want it all). And set out what specifically I plan to do every day in the time I have (realistically, 30-45 minutes a day). It’s going to be on a week-by-week basis, because setting out a whole month at a time is a bit overwhelming right now. I have painfully cut down my resources to about a handful, but I don’t have my first week’s schedule put together yet and tomorrow is the first day of April (eek!). It’s going to be a slow start, but I think once I have my first week’s study plan together, doing it the second (and third and fourth) time will be far easier and quicker.
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